Cost For California Drought May Hit $2.2 Billion

A new study released on Tuesday updates estimates on the drought’s effects on California’s Central Valley farm production, offers new data on the state’s coastal and southern farm areas, and forecasts the drought’s economic fallout through 2016.

One key finding in the study from University of California-Davis’ Center for Watershed Sciences is the total statewide economic cost of the 2014 drought is $2.2 billion. In addition, 17,100 seasonal and part-time jobs related to agriculture are lost, representing 3.8% of farm unemployment.

Groundwater pumping is expected to replace most river water losses, with some areas more than doubling their pumping rate over the previous year, the study said. More than 80% of this replacement pumping occurs in the San Joaquin Valley and Tulare Basin.